The Leviathan and the Reasons to War
by Ruler of the Fake Empire
Summary: Eren had never met anyone so valiantly against actual human interaction. Levi brought antisocial to a level beyond anything he had ever seen before, and yet he had so many people he cared for. Eren was stressed and tired of everyone. So he took shelter in the apartment of the man who called himself Levi. Sometimes all either of them needed was some silence and some blind insults.
1. Chapter 1

Warmth seeped into his body via his palms. The warmth almost burnt them, but didn't stand, knowing that the warmth would soon disperse and he would be left alone in the cold. The sky was grey and dismal, the young man with the green eyes sighed, hanging his head in defeat. He knew it would rain, he knew that he would have to go home or he would freeze. Mikasa would have his head for this, he knew that she hated it when he went off on his own. But, hell, he just needed some space. He couldn't deal with home right now.

He lent even further back on the bonnet of the car, looking back up at the sky for comfort.

"Hey, brat. I gotta drive" The owner of the car emerged from his apartment block. The boy with the green eyes had seen him before, around the place. It was a pretty tight nit community. The man was probably one of the few people he knew or at least recognised that could of been insanely popular, but chose not to be. He was short and, quiet frankly, adorable, but he hated everyone.

Literally everyone.

The boy with the green eyes was pretty sure that he attended the university in the west part of the city. He didn't have a bad face at all, if only he wasn't scowling all the damn time.

Eren sighed, stepping away from the man's car. Why couldn't that car belong to a nice old lady or something. Anybody compared to this cynical beast was a blessing. Eren reseated himself on the side walk he had first risen from. He nodded as respectfully as he could to the man, who was getting back in the car. The main reason he knew of the man's existence, beyond that basic glance, was the notorious story of the last guy to piss him off. Apparently the man had walked in on someone being mugged, long story short the mugger had been found outside the police station bound, gagged and with a ready and very heartfelt apology letter. They couldn't prove it was him, but it had still sent a very serious message not to mess with him.

The car disappeared down the street and Eren returned his eyes to the sky. With a tired sigh he placed his ear buds back in his ears. The music began to thrum and his mind began to sway in the wind. All he could do was bury his face in his arms, pray that nobody from his school decided to wander down the street and wait for the warmth of the man's car to get back.

"Hey, kid, where are you sleeping tonight?" The man was back. Eren blinked his emerald eyes open, sleep fogging his mind like some tacky horror movie. Slowly he plucked the white plastic from his ears, still looking at the man. His thin form leaning against the car door.

"Pardon?" He asked, the music had blocked the man's voice from his ears. The man briefly looked away in annoyance at having to repeat himself.

"Where are you staying?" The man's voice wasn't what he had expected it to be. Eren had thought to would of been a hiss, like that of a snake, but instead his voice was hard, cold and above all strong. His voice's firm underline briefly forced him into shock.

"I-I don't know, sir" Eren bowed his head. He realised as soon as the words passed his lips he shouldn't of said it. He knew because the man's eyes narrowed, his permanent from growing deeper. He wasn't making any mystery of what he thought about Eren answer. It was obvious he disapproved. The man sighed as if everything that had ever gone wrong in his whole life was all Eren's fault. He looked as if he was ready to declare war on the whole world and win. Not that he didn't look like that anyway.

He bent, lifting up the groceries he had left to buy while Eren had been having his nap. Slowly he walked back towards the door of his apartment block, he expression forever staying the same. Eren watched him as he did, his curiously getting the unfortunate best of him. Why had the man asked? He didn't seem to care at all about… well… anything really. The man spared the boy one devastating look when he realised he wasn't being followed. He gestured to the door.

"Well? I'm don't take lightly the idea of having to report a frozen body in the morning so if you don't mind?"

Oh.

Oh, the man was offering him a place to stay. That was weird. The man didn't strike him as the sort of person to offer help to a stranger. It was also creepy, but he was cold. Mikasa would of killed him for just considering it, but he still didn't want to go home. After mum died it just wasn't as welcoming as it used to be.

"How do I know you won't try anything?" It was a good question, given that the main rumour about the man was that he had beaten a mugger to pulp. He shrugged, those narrow dark eyes never wavering from Eren's face.

"Sorry, brats and men aren't in my target range" Eren sighed. He could be bothered with his anymore. He was just too tired. With another, final bedraggled sigh he stood, brushing himself off, his ear phones dangling from his school shirt. Mikasa would kill him, he could picture it. But he just couldn't be fucked. The man was offering him a place to stay, a bed and hopefully some food. That was all he wanted right now. He stood and followed the man inside.

As they climbed the stairs each of them were silent. The man looked only ahead and Eren looked at the man's back in hope of gathering information on his general security. The man was always wearing that same jacket. The one he always wore Soft brown leather over thin shoulders. The design on the back sparked Eren's curiosity. Two feathery wings crossed over one another, one white, one royal blue. Each feather is underlined with golden thread, like a discoloured shadow. The design, while not beautiful, it was very vaguely… comforting.

The man paused at one of the many doors and Eren almost bumped into him, noticing this he was forced still with another patronising state. Hot damn, this guy could glare. A key was slid into the lock and the door was opened, with a quick swing. Eren wasn't invited in, but he wandered inside after the man anyway, his hands in his pockets, looking about. It was pretty simple and deathly clean. It bordered on ridiculous, the level of cleanliness. One half of the immediate room, right of the door, was a little kitchen with a dining table, both of which were never used, that was obvious. The dining table was the only thing in his line of vision that even resembled cluttered. It was covered with wires and machinery and tools. Somehow it looked out of place, but incredibly organised. Eren found that remarkable. He reached out wanting to touch the mysterious twisted metal, wondering what it could possibly be or become.

"Don't touch that, brat" The man didn't even turn around, but his voice is enough to ward Eren away from the man's toy. Instead he watched the man as he circulated around the small kitchen. He went slowly about making tea for himself, not even bothering to ask Eren if he wanted some. "So tell me, am I harbouring a criminal, or have you simply decided home isn't the place?" The man didn't seem to be the one to care for questions, but Eren could at least accept this one.

"Second one" he said quietly. He didn't want to talk about home, his life was complicated enough as it was, he didn't feel the need to start workshopping it. He just wanted a little silence, everyone else always wanted to talk.

"Very well, you can spend one night here. You'll sleep on the couch and I'm ordering Chinese. What do you want?" A menu was flung at him and he sat down on the couch to consult it as the man started dialling that phone on the counter.

The rest of the evening was spent in largely the same way. The man introduced himself as Levi and generally kept his distance, other than pausing from whatever he was doing at the dining table to come and eat Chinese food with Eren. They had watched tv while they ate from the white cardboard boxes, together on the couch. Levi had occasionally decided that the tv was worthy of his critical comments and then he usually decided that Eren was worthy of said comments as well. It went on like this until Levi went grumbling back to his tinkering and Eren drifted off to sleep.

_What a dick,_ he thought as his mind began its decent.

...

That night while the boy who called himself Eren slept soundly Levi was busing himself by looking for someone to call. While he didn't care for the boy in the slightest he didn't find being accused of kidnapping the boy a good way to spend a day. He would simply call his parents and explain that he would be back tomorrow. He had stolen the boy's wallet earlier, but unfortunately the only thing inside the wallet was a credit card, a bus pass and a few dollars. Levi looked at the bus pass hoping for some sort of identification.

Name: Eren Jaeger

Age: 17

Well, at least he was telling the truth about his name. Levi sighed, running a hand through his hair. He must of been getting soft. Here he was offering his home to a damn brat. Maybe he could live through a day of the police, he didn't really care anymore.

He wanted to go to sleep. And then he wanted to go to sleep again, preferably immediately after falling asleep the first time.

"Dammit" he muttered before tossing the wallet on to table. "Good night stupid brat"

"G'night neat freak"

Author's notes:

this is my first attack on Titan fanfic and I love Levi so I had to make it about him. I just think he's a really cool character. Anyway I really hope you enjoyed reading this because I really enjoyed writing it. Expect more to come.

Much love,

Clementine


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, brat, wake up" someone kicked the sofa and it rocked, annoying him. Eren pulled the blankets over his chin, not wanting to rise from his sleep. He was so warm and if he was so warm in the blankets then out of the blankets had got to be cold. Therefore he didn't want to go out there. "You're a teenager, so go the fuck to school. That's something that teenagers do" Eren grumbled inaudibly and stuck his arm out of the blankets. He waved his dismissively at him, only to feel his fingertip brush a hip. His hand immediately snapped back towards him. Oh, right, Levi's short. He knew that. "Go away" he muttered, shaking his head. He didn't wanna. He didn't wanna have to face Mikasa and her fiery protective wrath. "You know, I once killed a man in his sleep because he didn't wake up" Levi's voice was low and dangerous. And to think from afar this man looked docile and adorable. Well, he looked adorable. Eren groggily sat up with a scowl. Unfortunately his scowl was no match for the man's. He stood next to the sofa glaring like nothing else. He seemed to emit a purple black aurora of annoyance. He raised a beer can to his lips as he turned to walk away. Eren figured it was a little early to start drinking and he mentioned this, almost knowing that Levi wouldn't like being corrected by a seventeen year old. When he heard Eren's reprimand he turned and looked over his shoulder with a fresh scowl on his face. "I'm an adult" he responded, "the time of day doesn't apply to me until I'm over thirty" In all fairness Levi must not of been to much older than Eren was. He was probably still in his early twenties. Given the fact that he could of been older than twenty three it was a mystery why he was wearing a dress shirt and had a tie slung loosely around his neck. Most people his age were working at fast food restaurants and diners. Because of the uni in the west part of the city almost everyone younger than thirty was a student. "What are you doing today?" Eren took the cup of tea from the bench that he supposed was for him. He didn't really like tea, but it was cold and the tea felt warm going down his throat. "I'm going work" Levi was leaning his hip on the marble bench, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows. He had such thin, cynical eyes. At first Eren had seen them as brown because of how dark they were, but in fact now that he saw that they were a deep blue. "What do you do?" Eren's curiosity never ceased to grow. He was just so… interesting. Levi didn't hesitate, Eren didn't think he was capable of that, but it was obvious that he was reluctant to tell. He glared at the boy before him for asking before sighing. "I'm a military scientist" he said grumpily. Somehow he managed to convey exactly what he wanted you to know without ever changing his facial expression. Eren's eyes widened at his answer. A military scientist? He was way too young, he shouldn't of even had the skills. "That's… so cool" Eren's loose jawed look morphed into a grin. "What type?" His job sounded so cool. He was pretty sure that Armin wanted to be a military strategist which was also very cool. Levi turned away from him to face the small mirror so that he could secure his tie around his angular neck. A growled was pushed past his lips and he didn't respond right away. "Shut up and go to school, stupid brat" Levi began twisting and knotting the tie with a scowl. How annoying he found the child. He had better things to do than being ogled for his occupation. Plus he had to get to work, the kid could look after himself. He tossed the beer can into the recycling and grabbed his jacket as the boy wandered off, presumably to go to the bathroom and hopefully to comb his hair. What an idiot. With that Levi decided that everything was just sucky waltzed out the door after scribbling a note for the boy, telling him to get the hell out of his apartment and to go to school. "Eren!" Eren had been trying to hide among his fellow students, but somehow his childhood friend still managed to smell him out. Maybe one day he would ask her how she did it. He felt a hand land on his shoulder and he was roughly dragged backwards, he let out a straggled scream before being thrown into an empty classroom. "What the hell Mikasa? That hurt!" he growled as he picked himself up off the ground, rubbing the back of his head where he had hit a desk. He recognised the classroom as his roll call room, well at least he was going to end up here anyway. "Where have you been? You didn't come home last night!" While Mikasa wasn't actually related to him, they lived together because of an unfortunate instance that happened when they were younger. Eren had saved Mikasa's life from some very bad men, and ever since Mikasa had both lived with him and his family. Unfortunately for him she had become uncomfortably protective. "I was staying at a friend's place" he said as calmly as he could. Mikasa narrowed her dark eyes and he partially knew the operation was already lost, but, really, he couldn't tell her that he had spent the night in the home of someone he barely knew. More for Levi's safety than his own. Then again, he could probably look after himself. "No, you weren't. I called you're friends" He could tell that she was pissed. Probably even more pissed than usual. Mikasa was notorious throughout the school. Everyone was either terrified of her or insanely in love with her. Well, excluding her friends. As for his response he had no idea what it was meant to be. If she had called people he had no way of knowing who it was so he couldn't just churn out a random name. Heaven forbid she somehow found out he had stayed the night at Levi's house. He would be in for it then. Just as Mikasa opened her mouth to demand an answer to her previous question when Armin decided that he would be going to roll call early, Jean and Marco behind him. Soon enough Annie would probably follow. "Morning guys" He said. Armin was basically the exact opposite. He was short, barely taller than Levi, blond and a certified genius where as she was tall, black haired and average in academia. He bordered on adorable and she bordered on creepy. He seemed not to notice the tension in the room or he was just strategically ignoring it. He smiled and was jostled aside by Jean. Marco quickly apologised for the slightly shorter male. "Jeager! Heard you did a runner last night, where did ya go? Couldn't of been a girl's house, you aren't capable of that" Jean loomed over Eren grinning. The rest of the day was spent in largely the same way. Endless questioning, both worried and teasing and even a few lectors, but Eren still didn't regret accepting Levi's offer. A lot of crap he didn't want to think about was constantly running through his head, all he needed was some space and thats what Levi's apartment had provided, along with Chinese food, bad late night television and a grumpy, cynical military scientist. Eren was almost dropping off to sleep, but not quite. Exams were coming up soon and he needed to pay attention. He kept telling himself this, but somehow his eyes still managed to droop. Every now and then Armin would reach out from his desk and lightly punch him in arm to rouse him from his looming sleep. Break couldn't come quick enough. It was his worst subject, history. The teacher was currently going on about the titan war when humanity had been pushed to the edge of extinction. He wasn't fabulous at the idea of history. It had happened so long ago, barely anyone remembered anyway. Suddenly someone knocked on the door and a head appeared. "I'm looking for Eren Jaeger, is he in this class?" It was one of the office ladies. Eren knew her from his many and disapproved upon lateness habits. He stood, grasping the chance of something holding his attention for more than half a second. "Thats me" "There's someone here to see you, could you please come with me?" He could tell by the way that the older lady was speaking to him that he was still on her bad side from his days of coming late. In his defence he was getting better at showing up on time. Eren nodded and eased out of his seat. Finally, something interesting or at least distracting was going on. "Levi!?" His voice was louder and more startled than he had meant it to be. At the sound of his name the older man looked up from his phone. He was dressed slightly differently than this morning. Instead of his brown leather jacket he had a long lab coat draped over his shoulders. The tie had been loosened from his neck and a pair of glasses dangled from his chest pocket. It must of been important, because Levi looked like he had come straight from work. He lowered his phone, eon hand snug in his coat pocket. "Good afternoon, brat" Levi quickly took out something from his pants pocket. "You left your wallet with me" Eren looked at the piece of leather in the other man's hand in surprise. He hand't even noticed it was gone. He took it from Levi with a small embarrassed smile. Levi didn't look like he really cared whether Eren was embarrassed or otherwise. "Thanks" he said. That permanent look of disdain never lightened from his annoyingly handsome face. "You're welcome, goodbye" Levi gave a swift wave and began to walk in the opposite direction, towards the door of the school office. He was obviously eager to get back to something. Eren didn't even think about his actions, not that he ever really though too much about what he did. He just reached out and grabbed some of the fabric of Levi's lab coat. "Wait, Levi" The older man quickly looked back at him, his face briefly becoming one of surprise before disappearing under a scowl. "What?" Eren's cheeks were suddenly dusted with pink and he looked at his feet, still clenching Levi's lab coat in his hand. At the back of his mind he noticed that the same symbol that was on his jacket was patched on the right shoulder of his lab coat. "Levi, do you think I.… I could come around to your place tomorrow? I won't bother you or anything, I just can't deal with home right now" this wasn't entirely true. Eren was struggling to deal with anything, home was just a side factor. He had an overbearing childhood friend, a recluse father who seemed to be partially mad and a whole lot of undealt with grief. He just needed a space where he would be able to get away from it all. Somewhere out of the constant rain and stress. He looked up at the black haired man, hoping that he might if found that place. Levi nodded grudgingly. "Sure, whatever, brat. I have to work until noon tomorrow so just let yourself in" he waved his hand dismissively at the boy and Eren let go of his lab coat. "Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow" Levi waved his hand behind him as he walked sturdily out to door, leaving only a smiling teenage boy in his wake. Unbeknownst to both of them a boy of around the same age was watching dumbfounded just out of sight of Eren. _Oh, he spent the night with the devil_, he though to himself. 


	3. Chapter 3

Eren heard the door slam and then a series of pitter-patter footsteps echo through the apartment, a tired groan soon followed the sound on a body collapsing on to the couch. Eren quickly finished up in the bathroom before exiting to discover his companion. He had spent only an hour before it was due for the older man to return from his work, he would of come sooner had he not had to sneak. He had been forced to wait for Mikasa to go to the bathroom so that walk out of the door and not be immediately dragged back. He had left a note so that she would at least worry a little less, but guilt still gnawed at him. Sometimes he wished he really was an only child. Sometimes he wished he lived on a rocky hillside where no one could find him. Sometimes he wished that his mother would return to him.

Most of the time his wishes remained unanswered.

Eren walked into the living room and even though he was expecting the view he was still a little surprised to see Levi sitting on the couch. His head was back and his eyes closed, his jacket abandoned over the back of one of the chairs and his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. He was breathing hard, must of been on hell of a day at work.

"Bad day?" Eren questioned cautiously. Levi slowly raised his head to look at him. At first it seemed like he didn't recognise the teenage boy standing partway into his kitchen, but then he lowered his head once again and sighed.

"My coworkers are idiots" his voice sounded drained and it was only one in the afternoon. Poor guy. Eren noticed his forearm was bandaged. White fabric swirled thickly around his arm. He was holding it protectively to his chest, even though he didn't seem to realise it. Eren had to resist the urge to reach out and take the arm to inspect the damage the older man must of done to himself, but instead he merely eyed it like it was an intruder.

"What did you do to your arm?" He didn't bother hiding the disapproval in his voice. He figured that Levi didn't have the energy to glare at him and it seemed that he was right. The older man only waved his non-bandaged arm in a meek attempt at foreboding.

"None of your business, brat" Eren really should of expected that.

For the rest of the day Levi switched between drinking, tinkering, welding things and watching Tv. For a short, skinny guy he could drink quite a lot. Eren watched him for the most part, occasionally inquiring about this and that. Sometimes he got an answer, sometimes he didn't. They ordered pizza for dinner and Eren spent his time going through Levi's movies and later watching them. Of course he forced himself into a few hours of homework for good measure as well. He had sat down at the table with Levi and had buried himself in his work. Every now and then he would ask the older man about something he needed help with. Just like every other teenager he figured that anyone who was no longer within the public school system knew everything worth knowing and more. Thankfully it seemed that Levi did, in fact, have this knowledge and Levi, while snappish, sarcastic and irritable, apparently found nothing wrong with sharing his knowledge with the student. Halfway through his homework he had accidentally asked something about chemistry and he would of painfully regretted this had he not found the lecture actually interesting. He grinned at the thought that he was now going to ace chemistry just from listening to Levi speak for an hour.

After dinner Eren had settled down to play Mario kart until the wee hours of the night. He had already texted Mikasa saying he wouldn't be coming home and he knew he didn't have to tell Levi. After a little while the black haired man had come and watched him play, as if he was surprised he even had the game. Eren wouldn't if been surprised if he had forgotten about its existence, let alone that it was in his home. After a second he had left and soon returned with a six pack of beer and a six pack of juice boxes. At some point Levi had ended up in pyjamas pants, which had revealed to Eren that he had abs that wrestlers would've drooled over. He had slicked back his hair so that he could compete with Eren for the Mario kart title. Eren, on the other hand, had ended up in only his boxers, as he felt most comfortable. The reason why they had both ended up half naked was because air conditioner had broken on a ridiculously hot setting and they were essentially in a sauna. Needless to say they had ended up playing Xbox games against each other until it was 4AM and the older of the two was slightly drunk. They had collapsed asleep on the floor where they had been sitting, controllers still in hand, one of them snoring loudly, the other merely snoozing.

Both with troubles cast aside for the moment.

Someone was banging on the door, yelling. Eren couldn't quite tell who it was or what they were yelling about, but he dearly hoped they would stop. The noise was a little too disruptive of his safe haven for his taste.

All he could see was the television, the wall and a pair of feet matching his own, only not stretching as far. He looked across to see who the feet belonged to, a lazy expression clouding his face. He almost gasped as what he saw there. He hadn't really been able to look firmly at the man since they had met. He had been too embarrassed to even think he wanted to, but he could see now that his first assumption had been correct. Levi was adorable as fuck. Especially when he was sleeping. His hair fell in his face, his mouth all askew. He was leaning gently on Eren's shoulder in his deep sleep. For once the scowl had fled from his beautiful face, leaving only sometime like peace in place on his somewhat soft features. Eren let his eyes trail down the smaller man's body. He had been to ashamed to even glance the night before. He wasn't going to lie to himself on this one, he thought that Levi must of been one of the most beautiful men he had ever met. He ought to of been a model or something, in the teenagers opinion at least. Levi had a strong body. Muscles on his arms and chest proved that, he was someone built for combat and yet… he was a scientist and from what Eren had gathered a good one too. He wanted to run his hands all over this man, he wanted to discover every crack and crevasse and he wanted to know the stories of his scars. And yet he knew he couldn't.

Because men and brats weren't in Levi's target range.

Eren had known about his own… preferences for a long time, since he was thirteen and he still hadn't told anyone except Armin. His father and Mikasa he still kept in the dark. He just didn't know how to tell his family that he liked guys. He just didn't know how he would put it. He had told his mother about it before she had died and she had hugged him tight and told him he would be fine, Armin for the most part had done largely the same thing. He had told Armin first because he trusted the boy beyond all else, but also because he was smart and Eren vaguely understood that when you're not quite sure about something you ask someone who might be sure about it. It had turned out quite well. He was gay. He couldn't really do much about that, so he had decided to just let it go. He had never had a boyfriend nor had anyone ever really interested him before, and yet weirdly enough here he was in a strange man's apartment suddenly wanting to know him better. It was… unheard of.

The someone banged on the door again and went back to yelling, pulling Eren out of his trance. With no small amount of reluctance he pulled his eyes away from the older man face to try and decipher the words. Levi wasn't even stirring at the wild sound emitting from door way and Eren decided he wanted to keep him that way. He would go and dismiss whoever it was and then he would stare at the man for a little while until he got his feelings figured out. He got up after steadying Levi and wandered sleepily towards the door. Slowly he opened the it.

"What do yo-" he was cut off by arms abruptly encasing him. They must of been aiming for someone much smaller because they only seemed to embrace him from the shoulders down, he got a face full of hair.

"Levi!" The person squealed excitedly.

"Eh?!" Eren tried to step back out of the woman's embrace, but only succeeded making her pull back. She looked at him in surprise and they finally got good look at each other. The woman was of average height, just shorter than he was, with mad curly hair and rectangular bulky glasses. She was very pretty, but also seemed to be very mad.

"You aren't Levi" she stated, grabbing his chin and inspecting his face. "Who are you?" She demanded forthrightly. The boy had to fight the urge to do a runner then and there, but he could abandon his own mad scientist with this woman. One of them would just have to end up dead.

"I'm Eren" he squeaked uncertainly. Just then he felt a hand land on his shoulder.

"What's going on, stupid brat?" Ah, so the beast had woken. Immediately the woman pushed past him in favour for the smaller man.

"Levi!" She yelled once again, the neighbours were going to be pissed with all this noise. The woman pounced upon Levi, making the tackle she had given Eren look like a friendly hug. At this Levi had given out a hoarse scream as he tried to protect his injured forearm.


	4. Chapter 4

It took a good half hour to get the woman to calm down. She seemed to know that Levi was coming very close to disappearing into himself simply because of her arrival, but it also seemed not to bother her in the slightest. She later proclaimed that she was his older sister and it was her job to annoy him, but to his own dismay Eren had watched in both amusement and fascination as Levi attempted time and time again to inch into his room or his study and abandon this obviously mad woman with Eren, who was still desperately trying to explain to her that, no, he had not been kidnapped for experiments, and, yes, he was there of his own free will. She seemed to find the fact that he actually wanted to be with the sour man without blackmail involved very difficult to believe. Eren couldn't blame her, so did he.

After a little while Levi had been essentially bribed out of hiding by the woman. Eren had been reminded of a cat slinking away in the presence of an overly affectionate dog. In the end they had found themselves sitting at the dining table with cups of coffee and a first aid kit for Levi's arm. After a little while the woman had introduced herself as Hangi and a doctor, which was why she was roughly re-bandaging Levi's arm.

Levi had his head down on his other forearm, sleeping peacefully while Hangi and Eren chatted. Eren told the story of how he had met Levi and she had raised an eyebrow at his kindness. Apparently letting people stay in his home was not something that Levi did often.

After he had finished his coffee that he didn't really like he had decided that he really didn't mind the woman. She was very intense and a little too eager for his taste, but she wasn't a bad person and quite interesting. He had accidentally mentioned that he never would of guessed that the two were siblings if he hadn't been told. Hangi had then explained that they weren't really brother and sister they had just been raised by the same person. She seemed not to want to talk about Levi's childhood so Eren dropped the subject.

Of course the peace of just not being Eren didn't last nearly as long as he wanted it to. Soon his phone became alive with a call. He considered just leaving it there, he was sure that Hangi would understand if he explained he was avoiding his family, but he didn't think that Mikasa would understand. If anything he would think that she would firmly misunderstand.

So instead of leaving his phone to buzz itself to sleep in his pocket like he wanted he instead excused himself from the table and went out into the corridor, pressing the phone to his ear as he did.

"Hey, Mika" He said making sure that she wouldn't be able to hear his sigh. It wasn't that he disliked Mikasa, he loved his sister, but she was overwhelming. He once again wished that he didn't live with her. He would be perfectly fine if he was just able to move out. Unfortunately he was both broke and young. He cursed his age.

"Eren, where are you? I called everyone you know, there is no way you're staying somewhere safe. Come home" He might of considered it if she hadn't sounded like she was threatening him. He knew she cared and she worried, but he wished that she would just let him be his own person without thinking that he needed her permission.

"I am somewhere safe and, no, I will not be coming home, because I am actually enjoying my morning, thank you. You need to stop worrying about me. I can take care of myself" he didn't meant to sound so haughty and immediately felt bad. "Look, I love you and I love dad too, I just need some space. Just… chill, would you?" He had started out good on this try, but he had just ended up sounding haughty about. Damn his temper.

"Hey, brat?" Levi stood in the doorway to the hallway, one hand on his hip, his forearm newly bandaged. Eren had gotten a pretty good look at the burn and he guess it would probably leave a pretty bad scar. The burn looked like Levi had reached directly into flame.

"I gotta go, Mika. I'll see you later" he quickly hung up and looked to Levi, who's half lidded blue eyes looked at him. "What?"

"You are helping me clean, as of now" it was quite obvious that he lost all freewill as soon as he stepped into the older man's apartment. Still he did as he was told, which basically consisted of insults. At some point during the day Levi seemed to of decided he wasn't going to be a functioning human and instead settled for cleaning in his pyjama pants and a big green hoody. Eren settled for much the same. Hangi on the other hands decided that they were boring and to amuse herself as best she could. After lunch, Eren had wandered into the living room to find Levi hanging upside down on the celling fan by his ankles with his older sister in a head lock. They had both paused in their struggle when he had entered. Levi had looked at him with a threat in his eyes, whereas in Hangi's eyes, behind her glasses, there had been a plea.

He had slowly backed out of the room without another thought.

Eventually Eren left, abandoning Levi with his over zealous sister and left over Chinese food. It seemed that Levi lived on take out and despised cooking above all else. It was good that his sister seemed to be of the same opinion.

When Eren returned home he had been surprised to find a very angry Mikasa waiting impatiently for him and his father nowhere in sight.

After getting a firm lecture that he hadn't listened to he had escaped to his room, with three books if homework to get done before Monday. About half way through he began wishing he was able to employ Levi as his tutor. Actually, if he told Mikasa that he went around to his tutor's house to learn and not to avoid his family then maybe she might permit it. No, that wouldn't work. She would insist on meeting him and the whole operation would go to shit. He sighed and considered calling Levi simply because he wanted to know exactly how to do this damn equation without just randomly guessing. He would usually just consult his maths textbook, but it was in the kitchen and he didn't feel confident about venturing out of his room. Before he could even get his phone out if his pocket "always look on the bright side of life!" started blaring from his hoodie and he jumps five feet in the air. At the time he had though it awfully ironic to have Levi's ring tone be one if the chirpiest songs in history and even with his heart beating quick with fright it brought a smile to his face.

He brought the phone up to his ear, wondering what he was calling about.

"Hello?" He leaned back waiting for an answer.

"So let's see, I have two textbooks, a singlet, a video game and a single shoe" as usual Levi's voice sounded like he had only just realised he was surrounded by idiots, but he had suspected it all along. "Must you leave various items of clothing around my apartment, damn brat?"

"Sorry, Lee. Can I come by tomorrow and pick them up?" He liked the idea.

"You can, but only for a little bit, I have to go out" Levi sounded even more annoyed than usual.

"Where are you going?" He was a little disappointed, but he could always go around to Armin's and maybe even try to talk some sense into Mikasa. Not that he thought it would work.

There was a distinct pause before he responded.

"I have a friend… in the hospital and I like to visit her" there was no "damn brat" added onto the end of the sentence so Eren knew he was being deadly serious. He could practically hear the sound of Levi's furrowed brows,

"Sorry" it was all he could think to say. Levi actually having a heart was not yet something he was ready to think about, especially since he still hadn't worked his own feelings out yet.

"It's fine, you dumb brat. I'll see you tomorrow"

"I'll see you tomorrow" Eren sighed as he hung up, forcing himself to remember. Remember all the life lessons he had already staggered through and how it would be best to side step the one that he could see coming. He already knew that it was going to be the worst one yet.

Because you just can't always have the person you love.

No matter how much you want them.

When Eren knocked on the door the next day it was immediately answered by the short man. He could tell as soon as he saw him that something was very wrong. Or at Least more wrong that usual. Levi's face was set in stone, eyes like flying darts, piercing Eren's soul. He couldn't see that ever being a good thing. Without a word Levi grabbed his ear and began to drag him through the apartment he so adored. It was spotless as usual. So much so that Eren wondered where he had picked up the habits he so obsessed with.

"Hey! Lee, what are you doing? What's wrong?" Levi didn't respond, only tugging harder on his ear, and twisting it to add effect. Eren yelled out in dry pain, but he knew that Levi was pissed. He started to run through everything bad he could of done to set Levi off, but he couldn't think of anything bad enough for his expression. Then he started to hear fists banging on the door of the bathroom and his stomach dropped. Please dear lord, don't let it be that.

Levi stopped in front of bathroom door and scowled. He let go of Eren's ear and unlocked the door, pushing it open. Whoever was banging on the door was pushed back by its sudden opening and the door hit the wall with a satisfactory bang. Levi grabbed Eren's arm and gestured to the black haired girl.

"I believe this belongs to you" and with that Eren was pushed into the bathroom to deal with Mikasa. Unfortunately Mikasa seemed completely uninterested in Eren and only focused on the ever annoyed Levi. She launched herself at him, her fist held out in front of her, going for his jaw. Eren could only stare dumbfounded.

Levi effortlessly dodged her attack.

And the next.

And the one after than.

His arms remained folded and his expression remained the same, only his feet seemed to be saving him. His smooth evasive movements made Mikasa's attempts at attack look primitive and brutish.

Mikasa threw a punch and for once instead of dodging it he caught it. She swung with he other fist and he caught that too, walking forward and forcing her back into the bathroom. One look at Eren and he left, leaving a squirming Mikasa in her brother's arms.

"I'm going to the hospital, your stuff is in my study" Levi sounded angry. Eren frowned and cast Mikasa aside. He poked his head out of the bathroom and looked towards the living room where Levi was putting on his jacket with a frown slightly deeper than it ought to of been. Eren looked back at his sister who had folded her arms across her chest, still fuming.

"Can I come?" He asked meekly. Levi looked back at him, glaring like he had never glared before.

"Deal with the crazy lady in the bathroom, you damn brat" and with that the door slammed and Eren came very close to bursting into very unmanly tears.

Author's notes:

and thus we have chapter four within out midst. I don't like this chapter as much as I could and I do apologise, though if this goes as planned the next will be better.

With much love,

Clementine


	5. Chapter 5

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Eren sat down on the side of the bath tube, his head in his hands. He was so frustrated, and it was all her fault. It was all her damn fault. She had taken away yet another safe haven and now it's owner probably hated him. It wasn't surprising, she had attacked him.

"What are you talking about?" Mikasa lent back on the far wall opposite him, she looked angry, but her protective wrath was nothing compared to Eren's frantic frustration. "You're hanging out with the freaking devil, I've done you a favour" she set her face into the emotionless sneer that usually plagued her features.

Of course he knew of Levi's nickname. He usually didn't concern himself with such people with names such as "the devil" but Levi was forever proving himself an exception to the rule.

"You know nothing. He isn't a devil" he didn't have time for this. He had to find Levi, but then he couldn't because he was going to visit someone. And it would just be weird.

Eren stood pointedly and marched into the kitchen. He heard Mikasa following him, but he ignored her. Even he could admit if he were to speak he would probably say something he would regret. Instead he rummaged through the fridge, in search of something to eat. He hoped that Levi hadn't thrown out those juice boxes. Thankfully he hadn't, so he brought them out along with some week old pizza. When he turned around Mikasa was scowling. He scowled back and set his meal on the bench.

"Why are you so comfortable here? How long have you known him?" She forced her hands down on the bench, trying to get across the message she was trying to send.

"Long enough" he began roughly eating the pizza and squeezing orange juice into his mouth, like he had any dignity. Just from those simple gestures of defiance Mikasa lost it.

"What the hell wrong with you Eren?! You're constantly sneaking off to stay with someone you don't even know, he could be a criminal for all you know!" she was yelling and Eren stared at the ground, almost shaking with rage. How could she say that about someone she didn't know either? How could she say that about Levi, of all people? The person that offered his home, because he didn't want a kid on the streets for the night.

"He's not a fucking criminal, Mika. He's a freaking military scientist! He does experiments for god's sake!" He stood unconsciously taller, his mouth twisting in fury "Stop screwing around with my life! I'm not a fucking child! I like being here, I play fucking video games and listen to bad music! And you know that man?! That man you attacked for no reason whatsoever?! The one that you think must of molested me or something?! He helps me with my fucking chemistry homework!" His body was shaking and his hands wer in the air, quivering. His wild gestures were exaggerated, but purposeful. He was so angry and Mikasa was angry too.

"Well, why don't you just live here then?!" She screamed, her voice high and shrill. "'Cause you seem to like it so much more than home! I never wanted to look after you! I hope you never come home, you ungrateful swine!" His shaking froze as soon as those hurtful words fell from her lips. Eren barely even recognised that the had door slammed and he was alone in the apartment. His mind was a fog of around and up. Her words swirled around the kitchen the pizza abandoned on the bench.

"Dammit!" he yelled swiping his hand, the plate with the pizza crashing to the ground and shattering into too many pieces to count. Well, she hoped he never came home then he goddamned wouldn't. He would find somewhere else to stay even if it meant staying at the shelter. He had his mother's inheritance and that was more than enough to get him through for the rest of his whole life so he would just buy an apartment somewhere and be done with it. Now, that Mikasa didn't want him to go home then he damn well wouldn't.

He angrily cleaned up the plate and tossed it into the garbage. Then he proceeded to play Mario kart, briefly forgetting that it was not his apartment and he had no right to be there. He sat on the couch with his multiple juice boxes with his legs crossed, still in his school uniform.

A few hours later he heard the door being unlocked and a familiar stomping. He waited as he heard Levi put his jacket and shoes neatly in the cupboard before coming into the living room. Eren looked up, towards the older man and his scowl. Levi looked at him a second, before letting his scowl deepen. Eren looked away. Too ashamed to face him.

Levi sat heavily down in the arm chair and rested his temple on his closed fist. He watched Eren play with half opened eyes. He looked tired, and his thin blue eyes looked even more irritable than usual. Something bad must of happened.

Eren slid a green glance over to him.

"How was you're friend?" He asked softly. Levi barely reacted.

"She's dying" he said it so matter-of-factly that Eren dropped the controller. Again Levi didn't react. He was playing it off, but the boy could see. Of course he could see, he didn't understand how Levi could possibly think that he was fooling anyone.

The older man rose, maybe he sensed that his facade wasn't as fool proof as he had first thought. He walked quickly into the kitchen, only to find himself followed like a master with a puppy. He began to make himself a cup of tea as Eren lifted himself up onto the bench.

"What's wrong with her?" He prompted. He didn't quite feel comfortable comforting him, but he could at least let Levi get it out into the open.

"Nothing is wrong with her, brat. She has cancer" the frown was proponent on his face as he sat down in his seat at the dining table, surrounded by his toys. Eren moved and sat down in his own seat, with his own frown.

"I've been kicked out" Eren stated, sensing that Levi, didn't want to talk about it.

"Kicked out of where?" Eren had learnt in his past encounters that Levi was at his least hostile when he was either tinkering or not completely sober.

"My house" Levi raised an eye brow as he unscrewed something.

"Did that have to do with the crazy lady in the bathroom?" Levi enquired. He looked more at peace now, albeit tired, but at least he was at peace.

"Yeah, she's my adoptive sister, and she's decided that it would be best that I don't come home" Levi gave him a hard stare that he couldn't decipher.

"Where will you be staying?" Eren froze, he hadn't really thought about it since she had left, but where was he staying? If he had thought about it then he would if figured out that Levi would disapprove of his lack of planning. He could go to the shelter, but he didn't want to. He could sleep on the streets, but that was too dangerous. He would likely freeze. He could stay at Armin's, but his parents would probably ask questions.

"I don't know" he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and Levi's eyes narrowed. "I… I was hoping that perhaps I could stay here? Like as you flatmate, I have money and I can pay half the rent and stuff like that. And I won't bother you or anything and you've only known me for, like, a week, and I expect you to say no and stuff, but-" he was cut off by Levi moving his hand though the air and silencing him. He quietly continued to work, but Eren could see he was thinking about it. He could see the cogs in his brain turning.

"You brat" Levi suddenly said. Eren raised his head from his hands in surprise.

"What?"

"Go outside and feel on the top if the door frame" Eren obeyed without arguing, knowing that contradicting Levi was a bad move. His heart thudded uncertainly in his chest. He knew what this could lead to. It could lead to him setting up shop in the spare room, or it could lead to him to crawling back to Mikasa after being sent home. He liked the first option much better. He felt up the to of the doorframe and brought down a small silver key. Surprisingly he first thought was to wonder how Levi had managed to get it up there considering his less that skyrocketing height. Then, of course, he pushed his fist into the air and did a very graphic victory dance. He remembered that he was in public before quickly scuttling into Levi's apartment. He got a spare key, that meant Levi was fine with him staying. Woohoo!

He saw the apartment in a new light as he entered. He was going to live here, he was going to come home to here everyday. He considered the idea that he would probably stop eating actual meals with a smile.

When he came into the living room Levi had moved from the dining table to the sofa. He lay sprawled on the cushions, his breathing soft and deep.

Eren paused, bobbing down next to the sofa.

"Thank you, Lee" he said softly. Levi didn't respond, still simply sleeping, finally released from the bonds of his exhaustion. He stood quickly after realising that he was coming very close to reaching out and running his fingers though black hair and that would of been bad. God, he really had to figure out his own emotions or this relationship was on its way to hell.

A week later Eren was firmly settled in Levi's apartment. It was a lot less like they were flat mates and more like it was just a big extended sleepover, where he paid rent. The first time Armin came around Levi had calmly stated that his apartment was being invaded by teenagers and then went and had a nap. Where Levi discovered the presence of Armin Eren discovered the presence of Erwin. Levi disclosed him as his commanding officer, but it was obvious that he was one of the few people he respected. After discovering the whole commanding officer thing that lead to the whole "the man I live with is a military captain and has to carry a gun and, oh, fuck how old are you!?".

As for the complicated world of Mikasa she… understood, much to Eren's eventual surprise. It only took her three more attacks on Levi (all of which ended up with her locked in the bathroom) and a serious talk with a military commander who was visiting during the last of the attacks. It was agreed that she would stop for the sake Eren's sanity, she only really agreed until Erwin dug up Levi's military record, which was so spotless it was ridiculous. Mikasa asked Eren everyday if he would move back in, but every time he said no. He liked living with Levi. It was… simple, undemanding. And plus it was like living with your tutor.


	6. Chapter 6

The truth is, everything sucks. In the large, grand scheme of things the bad wildly out weighs the good to such an extent it is a miracle that the human race somehow managed to survive. The insurgents of a failed idea come back to the new with bombs strapped to their chests, while the first world blames anyone who isn't them for problems they don't experience and don't understand. The shifting blame and the human race's total incapability to takes what's given and use it wisely. The people in cancer wards waiting patiently to die, the trains that run into buildings, the terrible decisions that nobody quite understands. It all just… sucks.

Levi knew this.

Eren did not.

The suckiness of the world was lost on him, only seeing was right in front of his eyes. School work and socialising, the rest of the world a dirty window yet to be cleaned and seen through. He walked past the atrocities of society everyday, but he never spared them a glance. Never thought about it or consciously looked, he just looked in the other direction without knowing it. Levi knew it wasn't his fault, he was the product of a middle class society with a guilty conscience and nothing better to do. Still it was a largely painful experience to watch, to bask in the company of someone who was so endlessly convinced their problems were big enough to spare more than a thought.

I'm going to punch him one of these days, he thought as he sipped his tea, stupid brat.

He sat waiting for Eren to return from school. He was impatient though. He was sure that if he just stormed up to the school, demanded one Eren Jaeger and told them it was some sort of secret military operation they would probably hand him over, but that seemed a little over dramatic, even for him. Well, just damn everything then.

Sensitive ears picked up the quiet tap of footsteps and Levi leapt up, feeling somewhat triumphant even though he had done nothing to force Eren to come home. Maybe the boy could just tell. He stormed towards the door way and threw it open before Eren had a chance to. The boy looked at him startled and Levi looked up at him. He really had to find a way to shrink Eren. Maybe he would be the first one he would use the ray gun on. He almost smiled at the thought, but then it didn't work.

"No, not coming in today. Time to go" he pushed Eren's chest, forcing him back into the corridor with his superior strength. At least ten years worth of martial arts training came in handy every now and then.

"What? Lee? What's going on?" Eren attempted, very valiantly in his opinion, to make sense of the situation. Considering that he really just wanted to go home and for Levi to not be in one of his horribly foul moods it wasn't surprising that he was just a little soft in the head for the moment. He could go for one of those nights where they did nothing, but play video games and Levi wasn't quite sober.

"No comment" apparently that night was not on the scientist's agenda. He was roughly pushed into the passenger side of Levi's car with a grunt. And thus they were off to whatever mysterious destination Levi wanted.

"Seriously, Lee, where are we going?" He honestly couldn't remember when the name had just suddenly become Levi, it was just a nickname. Sometimes, if he really, really wanted to annoy the older man he would referred to the military scientist as "the clean freak" which would immediately get him a week's worth of deadly glares. Levi was one of those people that could hold a grudge over the tiniest of things.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually" there was that voice again, that slightly nervous, slightly paled voice, the voice he had when he was doing a particularly avid and dangerous experiment that he couldn't tell Eren about because it was his job.

"Could you at least give me a clue?" Eren looked at him pleadingly, even though thin eyes were glued to the road. Levi sighed as if he was dealing with a child.

"Think about it, what day is it today?" Eren bit his lip.

"Friday"

"And what do I do on Fridays and Mondays?" Well, at least Levi was trying to be patient.

A sudden clarity hit Eren and he was flooded with confusion.

"We're going to go see your friend? Why?" He frowned deeply. They we're going to the hospital? He didn't know what he thought about that. Whenever Levi came back from a visit he was always sad and didn't drink anything. Eren found he could measure Levi's mood by what and how much he drank. When Levi was tired and frustrated he drank beer and a lot of it. When Levi had had a bad day he would drink gin and when he had to deal with his sister he would down Russian vodka.

But when he was sad he wouldn't drink anything at all.

"Yeah, we are. And you're going to be ridiculously well behaved" for the next half hour Levi continued to lecture Eren on exactly what he was to do and what he was not to do. By the time they pulled up to hospital Levi was characteristically silent and Eren was fidgeting nervously in his seat.

* * *

The stupid brat and the clean freak collapsed together onto their now shared sofa. Levi let out one of his rare and expressive sighs and almost immediately passed out onto Eren's shoulder. Eren had long gotten used to Levi 'a miraculous ability to fall asleep anywhere and in any position, alarmingly quickly. It was almost scary, but also kind of sweet. He was sure that it was because Levi could go three days without rest and then sleep on and off for a week. He had no sleeping patterns to speak of.

Eren almost blushed, but he didn't have the energy, instead he simply moved his arm around Levi and let his dead weight lean against him. Normally when this happened he would try and replace himself with a pillow, or maybe even carry him to his bed, but he was too ponderous to do either. He was still reeling from their visit to the hospital. From the wonderful and lovely and dying Miss Petra Ral. She was gorgeous and tiny and so very, very sweet. He referred to Levi as "Captain" or "sir" so Eren supposed she must of been in the military with him. There was a scary point in the visit when she started coughing and wouldn't stop. Levi had called a doctor and tried his best to soothe her. Eren had been surprised by his actions. He had been so calm and so careful and so… kind. He had just been kind.

On the ride home, nothing had filled the car, but silence and sadness. Just before they had left one of the doctors had pulled Levi aside, leaving Eren with Petra who had wanted to know everything, how they had met, what they thought of each other, so on and so forth. When Levi had returned had hadn't spoken a word. Opting only to kiss her forehead and tug Eren away. The teenager still had no idea what the doctor had said to Levi and he had no intention of asking. How could he possibly ask about Levi's dying comrade? He wanted nothing more than for Levi not to be so sad. It hurt him to see the beers in the fridge untouched. At least the next day was to be a Saturday and there would be no school for him and only a half day of work for Levi. Maybe they would do something, they could rent a movie and Levi could insult it. That always seemed to make him feel better and that was all Eren wanted, above all else.

"Ah" he sighed, knowing he had homework to do and also knowing he didn't even give a damn. "What you do to me, you'll never know" Levi didn't respond. He only continued to sleep soundly, like he hadn't a care in the world when everyone knew he did.

He waited for a little while, just peacefully thinking and debating and fighting inside his own head. His three alter egos violently battling it out.

* * *

Teenager Eren: get you're shit together, Eren. You're not gay.

Virgin Eren: but it's Levi and he's adorable and I want him.

Teenager: Not gay!

Virgin: come on, I thought we already accepted that we're gay.

Teenager: I haven't, keep your gay thoughts to yourself.

Virgin: but… Levi.

Teenager: no, hands off. You know what he said.

Virgin: but, he's so pretty!

Teenager: yeah, lots of pretty people in the world an you don't go throwing yourself at them.

Virgin: you know, I think you know we're gay and you just won't admit it. What do you think, Mikasa?

Mikasa: I think you're both idiots.

* * *

Eventually Eren gave up trying to reason with his alter egos, including for some reason his adopted sister which he had always thought was kind of creepy. He might of given up on them, but they're insistent arguing raged on.

* * *

Mikasa: why don't you just give up already? He's obviously not into us.

Virgin: he's totally in to us!

Teenager: why do we bloodily want him to be into us again?!

Virgin: because he's pretty and we want to get into his pants.

Teenager: not me!

Mikasa: you know, maybe we could just move back to-

Virgin/teenager: no!

Virgin: I like living here, close to Lee.

Teenager: we can't go back, I'd go insane and the imbecile next to me would go insaner.

Virgin: I'm right here, you know?

Teenager: I know.

Virgin: can't you just admit that we love Lee already? This is getting really old.

Teenager: no

Virgin: please

Teenager: I said no, dammit!

Virgin: but this is ridiculous. The sooner we admit it, the sooner we can get in his pants and you also want that, don't you?

* * *

The arguing stopped.

"Well, I suppose that means I'm fucked then, doesn't it?" Eren muttered to himself.

author's notes:

hello again, I can't wait until the next chapter, I have the best idea. All hail me, idea genius of my bedroom.

Much love,

Clementine


	7. Chapter 7

Some people know they're brilliant. Most of them don't. Some people bask in their brilliantness, living the life of rich scientists, engineers and professors, making people pay them to pick their brains. Others are left to ponder if they were really anything at all. Sometimes brilliance is embraced, eagerly offered large amounts of money to do clever things. Sometimes brilliance in pushed away in favour of justified ignorance, ridiculed and torn. The large majority of the time, nobody knows what on earth is going on anyway and whether isn't brilliant or not is not the biggest concern in the house. Levi knew he was brilliant, and he was quite good at it too, being brilliant. Keeping this in mind, this made it quite mysterious why he was calling Eren at three thirty in the afternoon as he walked towards Armin's house with said boy. It was the very last day of school and Eren was coming very close to brutally murdering everyone because he was tired and he had had two tests that day. In Levi's defense he was the one who had helped Eren study for said tests. Eren paused on the sidewalk, holding the phone up to his ear, smiling just a little at the contact photo of Levi. He had gotten the photo a few days before, it was of Levi sleeping peacefully on the couch after a particularly difficult day at work. Levi had tried very hard to get Eren to delete the photo, but he hadn't been successful. While Eren wouldn't admit it for all the riches of spain he thought that Levi sleeping was one of the most adorable things the world had to offer. As far as he was concerned Levi was one of the few people that could go up against kittens and babies.

"Hello? Levi?" The phone didn't answer right away, instead there was an uncomfortable pause and Eren's assumption that Levi was calling so that he could get the teenager to get him food from the shops wavered just slightly. He heard a short intake of breath from the other side of his mobile phone and Armin looked at him expectantly.

"Er, hello Eren. I believe we've met. This is commander Erwin speaking" Eren's eyes widened just slightly and he opened and closed his mouth in surprise. At this point he strongly resembled a startled goldfish.

"Commander, sir?" He said, not knowing what to say. Why the hell was a military commander calling him from Levi's phone? He felt like he had missed something, like he had just missed a whole series of events that he should of been paying attention to.

"Yes, I'm sorry to be calling you. There has been an unfortunate… accident concerning Levi and as his flatmate I really do need you to come in" Erwin still sounded uncomfortable. Eren stiffened, picturing in his head Levi's burn, back when they weren't living together. He did have one of the worst habits of hurting himself and then down playing it. He thought with his vivid imagination how badly Levi had to be hurt for him to need to come in. Was he in hospital? Was he dying? How badly was he injured? He almost threw up thinking about it.

"Where are you?" He realised that his voice sounded worried and his face was probably pale, but he didn't really care. Worry and anxiety was coursing through his veins and he was beyond ready to start running in any direction in blind hope that he would end up wherever Levi was. Armin was looking at him, blue eyes open with surprise and concern. As always Armin could sense the tension in him.

"We're at the military base a little way out of town, do you know where that is solider?" Commander Erwin's voice was becoming muffled with background noise, shouts and bangs.

"Yes, sir. I'll see you in a little while" The military base was too far away to run so he would have to grab Levi's car from the apartment block's car park. Thank god Levi had given him a spare key. He didn't have his full license yet, but he was sure that if he did get pulled over he would be able to play the my flatmate has an unknown injury and might be dying and I'm taking orders from a super tall military commander, so fuck off card. He hung up the phone and shoved it into his pocket, almost panicking then and there.

"Whats wrong?" Armin's voice was small and meek, worry lining it like golden thread.

"I'm really sorry Armin. Levi's been hurt and I have ta go. Bye!" Without another word Eren darted off. Running as fast as he could down the street, thank god they were near the apartment.

If he was being honest he was pushing the speed limit, but he still didn't really care. There was nobody heading towards the military base anyway. Everyone steered clear because of a rumour that had been spread a few years before that they were doing explosive experiments. The more he thought about it the more it sounded like something Levi would have a hand in. His hands clutched the steering wheel and his knuckles were white. Thoughts of insane amounts blood and explosions and the endlessly numerous things that could of gone wrong concerning Levi's health ran hectically through his mind. After a while he came to a checkpoint in the road, just in front of the high barbed wire fences in front of the buildings.

A armed solider came and lowered his head to the driver's side window of Levi's car. He gestured for Eren to roll the window down. He did so. Maybe if he hadn't been insanely worried he would of been nervous talking to the solider. Thankfully for everyone he became ridiculously assertive when he was worried. When he was angry he was hopeless. When he was nervous he was hopeless. When he was normal he was hopeless. But he was pretty good when he was worried.

"I've been invited here by Commander Erwin. I'm Captain Levi's flatmate" His green eyes were hard. Nobody would of guessed he was on the verge of throwing up into the glove box. The solider nodded and disappeared into his little hut thing. He had a large heavy looking gun swinging behind his back. That worried him even if he was a solider. The solider returned and gave him a small laminated badge. A visitor's pass.

"Show this to the guards at the next check point. They'll take you to Commander Erwin. Good day" The solider nodded and waved him through.

"Good day to you too" Eren murmured, almost grinding his teeth together with uncertainty. The tar road turned to yellow gravel and he eased the car forward, worried. He had to hand it to Levi. His car was a pleasure to drive. Far smoother than any normal car. Of course Levi was quite good under the hood and even he was capable of taking a little pride in his abilities to make a car go without breaking a sweat.

The next few minutes was a hushed and hurried affair. He was roughly dragged through the corridors of a building promptly after he showed the badge to the guards. He walked between two men. Both blonds, one a little older and constantly scowling, the other was younger with a handsome face and his hair was held back, away from his face, in a pony tail. Both of them wore grave expressions and that only made him more worried. Grave expressions, in his experiance, were rarely used when something good was going on.

Abruptly he got cast into a brutally light room, the two men following suit. Commander Erwin stands in the corner, next to a second door, his back against a steel wall, his hand covering his eyes. Just like Levi he wore a large white lab coat. From what Eren had heard he wasn't a military scientist like Levi was he just ordered everyone around, scientist or solider or otherwise. From somewhere there was an insistent wail, possibly from inside the door.

Erwin looked up at the approaching trio.

"Ah, Eren, I'm sorry I couldn't meet you at the gate, I have to stay with him" One of Eren's fists clenched at his fist. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all and, yet, here he was. He could hear the wail fading, perhaps whoever it was was calming down. It almost sounded like a child. But what would a child be doing on a military base?

"Yeah, so can someone tell me what's actually going on? Whats wrong with Levi?" He didn't like not knowing why everyone was so agitated. Was he the only one who had no idea what was going on? If Erwin was actually capable of showing weakness Eren was sure he would of been biting his lip.

"Yes, of course. Please come with me" Erwin lead Eren through the door where the wailing might of once been. Eren continued behind him, the two men staying put and nervously as it was possible to stay put. "You might want to take a deep breath before you see him. It'll be… quite a shock" Erwin was obviously trying to make it obvious that this was a little more complicated than you're average scrape.

The first thing Eren noticed was the pile of clothes in the corner, crumpled like someone had simply thrown them away. The second thing he noticed was a man leaning on a table, breathing hard and sweating. Finally he reached the key component of the room, what made it really surprising. There was a boy huddled in the corner, tears streaming down his fact.

"Bloody hell" he muttered. The boy had blue eyes. Such familiar blue eyes. Blue eyes he lived with. Blue eyes that should of belonged to someone much older. The resemblance… well… the resemblance went well beyond genetics, it was down right Levi. He was as Levi as Levi was Levi, just… little and in tears. The boy must not of been older than two, still young. He was tiny, small and frail.

And adorable. He made the older Levi look like a grizzly bear he was so cute. Briefly their eyes met, but almost immediately blue eyes flickered to the tall man to his left. Then he began to cry again. Tears streamed down his face and he wailed like the world was ending. The little guy was terrified.

Eren rushed forward, strange mouthing instincts at the helm. He quickly scooped the child up into his arms, just like his mother had done to him when he was small. The child squealed in fright and tried to push back. Frightened blue eyes looked at him and he looked back. He smiled. Just a simple comforting, 'you are safe' soft of smile was all it took. All the child had needed was a little clarification that he would come to no harm. Eren felt arms wrap around his neck and warm tears soft into his school uniform. He swayed his hips, rubbing the boy's back in the soothing motions, making soft cooing sounds to soothe the boy's sobs.

He turned back around, to Erwin and the tired looking man. They were staring at him in astonishment, but he still didn't care.

"How did this happen?" His voice was cold and demanding, much to his own smothered surprise.

"I am designing a gun that has the capacity to make things smaller" surprisingly it was the tired looking man who spoke. "The captain was helping me. Something went wrong and he pushed me out of the way" he shrugged. "But, the gun's only meant to work on objects so instead of making the captain smaller, he was made younger. He doesn't remember anything un until around two to three years old" the man was slightly shorted than Eren was, well built and strong. He wore yet another white lab coat and seemed to be feeling very guilty.

"Is there any way to make him old again?" Eren's voice still retained such stature, strength and will that there was no way that the tired looking man wouldn't tell him, even if everything he said was classified.

"No, not yet at least. But if the captain's calculations are correct which they usually are he should be back to normal by the end of the week, maybe less" the man hesitated as Eren gave a sigh of relief and the boy in his arms began to suck his thumb. "The thing is..." He paused, wondering how to shape his words. "We have no idea how to look after the kid. I mean, he's obviously traumatised" the man gestured to the kid who flinched and clung to Eren's neck a little tighter.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Eren drew himself to his full height. "I'll look after him"


	8. Chapter 8

The kid was silent.

He sat in the passenger seat of his own car, small and munching worriedly on bickies that one of the blond men had gotten him, once he had stopped crying. He hadn't spoken a word since he had changed, according to Erwin at least. It had taken a lot of convincing to get permission from the commander to take Levi home with him.

_He's a lot different now, you have to be careful. _

He didn't know how many times Erwin had said that, but it had been a lot, too many to count. He had been pulled away, which had been a drama in itself. The child had cried out at his disappearance, not wanting to be left alone, in such a strange place.

_I know you don't know much about Levi's past, and… neither do I really, but he's in a bad way at the moment, you have to be careful with him. _

_What do you mean? What do I need to know? He's just a kid version of Levi._

_His name isn't even Levi, that's just what he calls himself. His name is Rivialle, he lived in France, I don't even think he speaks english. _

_He's French? _

_Wrong point, there was a time before I knew him, or even before Hange knew him. He… he had some trouble at home. Real trouble… his dad…_

_Oh, god, what did he do?_

_I don't know. Levi never told me, I know it was bad. _

Eren slid a pair of green eyes over to the kid. His still only wore Levi's dress shirt, and even that was beginning to slip down thin shoulders. Eren wondered if his old clothes from when he was a kid would fit him, he would have to call Mikasa.

"Hey, kid, Rivaille, do you want some dinner?" The child looked at him in confusion, not having the faintest idea what this person was talking about. He began making strange gestures with his hands that might of resembled someone eating an invisible hamburger. Rivaille really did think that the man should of been paying attention to the road, but he had learnt to keep his mouth shut. If you spoke daddy got angry, and when he got angry it hurt. Rivaille shook his head. If you asked for food daddy got angry, even if he had offered if. The man looked at him surprised and refocused his eyes back on the road. He was frowning, and that worried the child. He didn't know where he was, everyone was speaking a language he didn't understand and was tired. It all just felt so strange, so… foreign.

"Well, I'm hungry, so we'll stop for take out" Eren realised that he was essentially talking to himself, but it felt good to just say it. He knew the kid was hungry and yet the child refused to admit it. He knew was that bickies did not suffice for a meal. He had from an expert source that when he was the kid's age all he wanted to do was eat.

_He's in a bad way. _

Yeah, well not shit, Erwin. Thanks a lot.

He clenched the steering wheel, new information, new drastic, deathly information, jarring his brain. He went through the drive through and brought the food and soon they were on their way again. He had gotten enough food to feed a small army, somehow he knew that the kid would want some when they got home. But… it wasn't really his home any more was it? That apartment belonged to the older Levi, the strong Levi, the capable Levi, the Levi that had seen too much and laughed too little. Somewhere between the take out place and the apartment, Rivaille fell asleep. His head resting on the door, his mouth open a little way.

Eren smiled as he watched. There was a similarity, one to add to the pile. So it seemed this Levi can fall asleep in any situation anywhere just like the older one. Eren carried the child in his arms up the stairs while the child drooled quietly into his shoulder. Eren was swift and somewhat decisive. This kid was his responsibility. Levi had looked after him when he was vulnerable and here was him, repaying that debt, like only he could. Because you protect the people you love… always.

Eren placed the take out on the counter and gently laid the child down on the sofa. He placed a soft kiss on the child's forehead, pushing black hair back with his hand. French, huh? he thought as he ventured deeper into his cold home, turning on lights and searching for something to keep the kid warm. He would need a bath before bed, so Eren also turned on the bath, hot water gushing out of the tap.

After a little while Rivaille awoke, finding himself in a living room, a living room he didn't know. He could hear a bath being run and the heavy patter of footsteps. He quietly and stealthily crept off the sofa. Hungry, he thought. A bag of food was on the counter, and the smell of sweetened bread was hanging dankly in the air. He wondered if the man was would notice if he took some, he didn't think so. By the time the man came back he was in the cabinet under the sink snacking on the food he had foraged for himself.

"Lee! Where did you go?! Levi! Wait, no… Rivaille!" While the kid didn't know what the man was saying he could recognise his own name. He quietly crawled out of the cabinet, sure that there were no crumbs around his mouth. The man stood in the middle of the kitchen and looked at him in surprise, before scooping him up. "Lee! You really scared me! What were you doing under the sink anyway?" The child only squealed, pushing away from him in fright. "Oh, sorry Lee. I'm just glad you're okay" he held the child to his shoulder and patter his back to sooth him. He eventually calmed down and Eren carried him to the bathroom for his bath.

He wasn't shy about tiny Levi being naked around him. This Levi was a totally different person, they just looked vaguely similar. No, it wasn't the nakedness that got to him. What got to him was that he could count the boy's ribs, what got to him was the bruises, what got to him was the scars. The scars that weren't meant to be on the body of a three year old child. Of course he had seen Levi's scars before, but he had been older and he had figured that Levi had gotten them doing military... suff, never would he had guessed that the scars had come from a time when he was so young. Eren held the child by the wrists, staring at the white matter skin raised like a tunnel on his pale completion. They were horrid. Scary. The older Levi's scars were faded and he should of known.

"Bastard" he whispered as he saw tears blurring his vision. "That bastard. How could he do this to just a little kid?" A tear fell from his eyelashes and landed with a small sound. Eren sniffed as he forced himself to think of how he must of gotten them. A sharp stick? A whip? Or maybe a simple knife being dragged slowly across skin. Eren rested his forehead on the boy's chest, and cried angry tears. How could someone do this to a kid? Just a little kid. He hadn't known there was that sort of evil in the world. It scared him. It scared him, how strong Levi was. He had never even thought of how Levi had gotten so strong, why he had had to be so resilient. He pulled back, cupping the boy's cheeks. He had only taken one semester of French and he could barely remember any of it, but after listening to Jean's foreign mumbles for as long as he had, you catch on a little.

"Je suis désolé, je suis tellement, tellement désolé. Je suis désolé que tu sois si peu. Mon amour, je suis tellement désolé" I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry you're so little. My love, I am so sorry. The man was still crying. Tears streaming down his face from his green eyes. Rivaille could only figure out half of what he was saying. His accent was terrible and mispronounced a good three quarters of all the words, but he got the idea. What was he apologising for? What was there to be so sorry about? This was just his body, what was wrong with him? Confused and startled he began to cry as well. He was hugged to a warm body and he wept into a soft teeshirt until he got to cold.

The bath was enjoyable for the most part. The man washed his hair and his body and made him all shiny and clean, he decided he liked the man. He just did. When he was done the man went and got him some more clothes. The clothes were smaller than the first shirt, but not by much. It was a big soft jumper. He sniffed at one of the sleeves while he sat in the lap of the man as he dried his hair with a towel. It smelt like flowers and he wondered how that had happened. He wasn't yet too tired to care.

...

Eren's eyes sprung open, silence echoing through his head. The sound of soft footsteps stepping quickly over the floorboards. Eren was out of bed in a second, his own footsteps near silence. It was a trick living with Levi had taught him, you wake up Levi you wake up the devil. He poked his head out of his bedroom and immediately spotted a small lump of toddler moving across the floor. Rivaille was obviously making an effort to be quite and he was doing a pretty good job. Eren was suddenly thankful that he was was a light sleeper.

In the dim he could barely see anything, but he could see Rivaille and his adventure across the apartment.

He was just reaching for the doorknob when Eren decided to put a stop to his excursion. He came up behind the child and scooped him up,

"And where do you think your going?" He said scathingly, the boy squealed in fright, but calmed once he realised that it was only him. If only it was this easy to gain the trust of the older Levi. He sighed. "Come on kid. That enough midnight adventures for now" the boy nestled into his arms after giving the door one last longing glance, like a prisoner to the prison door. He muttered something inaudible and Eren smiled, another thing that the older Levi did.

Eren had already decided that the kid would sleep in his room with him. He couldn't have him sneaking off again, even he could see that that would be a bad move. He'd probably get kidnapped or something. He shivered at the thought and hugged the boy a little closer to his chest.

He lay the boy down on the mattress and pulled the covers up to his chin. The child blinked sleepily at him and Eren smiled.

"Go to sleep, Lee" he said softly, getting in to bed beside the child.

"Hmm" hummed the boy in response. Eren stared up at the celling with his arm unconsciously wrapped around Rivaille.

Rivaille.

What did he know about that name? It was so familiar. Rivaille. It was French. He would have to ask Jean if he knew anything about the name.

Oh well, he would find out later.

The child buried his nose in his side and Eren smiled. All would be well in the end.


	9. Chapter 9

Mikasa hauled herself up the stairs, walking slowly towards the apartment where her brother lived. Ugly yellow paint was peeling from the walls, but other than that it was quite a nice building. She might of actually not disapproved of him living there if his flatmate wasn't so suspicious. Unfortunately Eren had taken and unhealthy liking to him that she passionately disapproved of. She lent heavily on the wall of Eren's floor to consult her options. She vaguely wanted to leave now, that would teach him that she wasn't always going to come and save his ass.

She kinda wanted that.

But on the other hand she wanted to go and save him from whatever he had gotten himself into this time, because she wanted him to need her. She kinda wanted that also. As she pondered she watched a kid sneak out of one of the apartments after a bit of squabbling with the door knob. The boy seemed to think that he was the ninja of all ninjas. He was clothed in only in a large jumper that dragged on the floor where he walked. He looked around the corridor like he had never seen it before, eyes wide with curiosity and interest. He saw everything in the corridor except her. He moved forward, his back to her. Opposite to the door that she had emerged from was another door, presumably down to the side exit, the brown door seemed to be his goal, no matter how many times he fell over.

Mikasa's eyebrows furrowed together in a brief moment of expression. Eren had said something about a child, she guessed that was why she had been asked to bring Eren's kiddie clothes to the apartment. She didn't know who the kid was, but she figured that she shouldn't let him go any further. At the rate he was going he would be outside, essentially asking to be snatched by some pedophilic creep. Whoever this kid's parents were obviously had the parenting skills of a teenage boy. Just as she was thinking this series of thoughts the boy had somehow managed, despite his less than towering height, to open the door and was just creeping inside the stairwell.

Mikasa began to walk, her boots clicking almost menacingly on the cold floor, but the child didn't seem to notice the sudden sound. The door clicked closed behind the child, briefly capturing the tail of the jumper the boy wore before being tugged through. Mikasa sped up a little when she lost sight of that black head, but she essentially started running when she heard him cry out. She burst through the door, wondering frantically what could have happened. Her eyes darted, and her teeth remained gritted, worry coursing though her veins.

The boy sat at the bottom of the first flight of stairs, his little frail body grazed from where he had come in harsh contact with the hard concrete. His knees were bloodily and ripped as were he elbows. Small scratches sat in a racing stripe on his cheek. His eyes were filled with tears, but they were not yet falling, he looked a little too surprised to be on the floor the be crying just yet. They stared at each other. Both a little surprised to be seeing another face. The boy blinked at her as she began her approach. She noticed vaguely that the kid must if had one hell of a pain threshold not to be in tears.

"Sweetie" she cooed gently, holding her arms out, for the child. She needed to get the kid back to his parents, no matter how hopeless they were for letting their kid escape. The boy didn't move to embrace her arms so she made the rash decision to embrace him. She didn't really know what she was doing, she wasn't good at showing comfort or affection. All she knew was that when she got hurt which she rarely did she usually wanted a hug. Thankfully the child didn't push her away, he simply held tightly into her shirt and tried his very best not to cry. It didn't work particularly well.

The girl with the child stood, one of her hands patting his back in what she hoped was a soothing manner. The boy let out a few whines of protest to being picked up, he seemed somewhat comfortable with the gentleness of which he was being handled. Mikasa almost rolled her eyes; he could have been snatched so easily. She was going to have to lecture his parents to the end of the world. Still, she kept her anger to herself, not wanting to frighten the boy with a violent outbreak. If Jean was there she would of punched him, just to vent. On latter thought that would of probably given the boy a fright as well and that probably wouldn't have ended well. She began to climb the stairs, her movements slow and ponderous. In her hand she held the boy to her chest and a plastic bag with the clothes of Eren's that she had foraged from their attic back at home. She wondered, not for the first time that morning, what was really going on with her younger brother. He had been acting so strangely when he spoke to her on the phone the day before, almost like he was worried, or perhaps just apprehensive.

She scanned the hallway, trying to remember which door the boy had come out of. She figured it out exactly five minutes after she should have and she cursed herself for the slowness of the deduction. She should have been paying attention to the door, she should have been paying attention to the fact that it was her brother's door that the boy had slid out of. She probably should have known that only her brother would be capable of this level of stupidity. She muttered swear words as she threw the door open anger in her stance. The boy jumped a little at the loud bang of the door hitting the wall. His blue eyes looked up to her in fright and she immediately softened. She stroked his hair, soothing his fright as best she could, tucking his fringe behind his soft little ear. She smiled at him and he rested his ear back on her chest, closing his eyes in relief that the bang was not what he thought it was. His stubby fingers she clung to her shirt, one hand clinging to her scarf.

"Eren" she hissed, creeping into the apartment. It was only 10am and the first day of the school holidays so she guessed it would be a miracle if he was up, still he appeared at the entrance way to the hall, half dressed and half asleep. He was scratching the back of his neck and yawning, eyes half lidded. He slowly took in the sight of his glaring sister and the child in her arms. He took in the fact that Mikasa looked like she was just about to saw his head off with a toothbrush and Rivialle was covered in scrapes and blood.

"G'morning" He said dazedly. The boy looked up at the sound of his voice, raising his head and looking at Eren as though he was surprised he was awake awake. He reached out to the teenager, his fingers scrunching and unscrunching, wanting to be held by the boy he didn't quite know, but still trusted. Eren immediately reacted, walking forward and taking the boy from Mikasa who was still glaring daggers, holding the boy to his hip.

"Hello, Rivaille, what have you done to yourself now?" He mused, not expecting an answer or to be understood. Mikasa's eyes widened at the way her brother was treating the child.

"You idiot, you irresponsible idiot" She said, her mouth agape as Eren moved into the kitchen to wash off the blood. Eren turned back to her, surprised by her words.

"What?"

"Do you realise how easy it would of been for him to be snatched? Do you realise how easy it would of been for someone to just come along and take him? He could of been kidnapped while you were sleeping" She realised that her words were harsh, but at least they were truthful. She was angry, she had thought her brother a little daft, but this was simply stupid. Eren frowned, thinking about her words carefully. He looked away, perhaps ashamed. His hold on the child in his arms tightened, as if the people ready to snatch him were in the room.

"I know" he quickly turned, the frown still on his face. He set the child on the bench with legs swinging off the edge, another stupid move. Mikasa sighed silently and took the child from the bench, instead moving to sit at the dining table with the child on her knee. The boy, Rivaille, looked back at her, straining his neck so that he was able to see her. She smiled down at him. For a second the boy's expression was confused, but then he smiled a big kiddie smile, his mouth open and his lips stretched. As if to join the smile they heard a somewhat deeper laugh from the direction of the kitchen. Thy both looked back to the teenage boy, who stood laughing, clutching a first aid box to his chest.

He smiled at them, recovering from his laughing.

"That's the first time he's smiled. He must adore you" Mikasa smiled briefly, she didn't know why she was so slightly happy about knowing that the boy liked her, it just felt nice.

The next half hour was spent explaining how Rivaille and Mikasa had gotten aquatinted and how Rivaille also happened to be Eren's grumpy older flatmate who had been unfortunately subjected to a gun meant for objects and specifically not people.

"So I suppose we should get Armin to call Jean then?" Mikasa suggested once she had at least half accepted that the child sucking his thumb in her arms was actually the man that she had tried to beat in a fight at least three times.

"What? Why would we call Jean?" The idea that his life long enemy would be making an appearance in his home, his shelter, both horrified and confused him. The child gurgled something in French and Eren nodded suddenly. "Of course. Jean speaks fluent French" he hit his forehead in a show of his own stupidity.

And hour later Armin came barrelling through the door unannounced, Jean hot on his heels. Jean was the only other person in the world that knew Eren was gay. He only knew because they were all gay. Eren, Armin and Jean, the little homo circle. It was the one subject that Jean wouldn't dare tease him about, everything else was fair play, but his sexuality was off limits. The truth was a good half of everyone knew that Jean was gay, not because he had publicly admitted it, but because he was ridiculously smitten with Armin. Eren suspected that Armin might of been smitten back, but Armin was still convincing himself he was straight. Though it wasn't working particularly well. Needless to say the situation was complicated.

When they came busting through the door like it was a one day exhibition Mikasa was sitting on the sofa, switching through the morning channels like book pages and Eren was sitting next to her with Rivaille on his knee, dressed in Eren's old clothes. They were still a little too big, but smaller than the jumper by any standards, it was a pity Rivaille was such a tiny kid. He was drinking orange juice through a sippy cup, completely absorbed in the task. He held tightly on to the two handles, his heed tipped back and Eren's hand resting under ether the base of the cup, making sure that if the cup were to be dropped by the boy it wouldn't fall. Eren's cheek rested on his fist on the arm of the sofa and he watched Rivialle and his determination to drink the orange juice in mild fascination. All three of them looked up at the arrival of the two boys, one small and blond, the other tall and grouchy.

"Woah, why did you guys finally have a kid? Why does he look so much like Levi?" Armin immediately peered down at the kid, who peered right back at him. They seemed to be infatuated with each other upon contact. Armin leaned down to the kid so that there eyes were level and Eren took the sippy cup from Rivialle, who reached out to the boy, his face curious and interested. He quickly took ahold of Armin's bangs, running his fingers thought the golden strands.

_"Jaune." Yellow_, he muttered, seemingly delighted with colour of Armin's hair, looking back at Eren, grinning, as if to show him the brilliance of the hair. Eren smiled back at him and Armin laughed.

"Hey, you're right, he does speak French. Is he Levi's baby bro?" Jean bent down next to Armin, looking at the kid with mild interest. "Where is the bastard anyway?" Mikasa snorted.

"Yeah, this is Levi's brother, his name's Rivalle. Levi's in hospital due to an experiment gone wrong so I gotta take care of the kid" Eren had decided that Levi's work would stay between him and Mikasa, there was no need to overcomplicate anything, plus they only needed Jean to translate, not get his life story.

"Oh, poor Levi. Is he going to be alright?" Immediately Armin looked concerned, looking to Eren for some clarification that it was nothing to worry about.

"Yeah, he'll be out of the hospital by the end of the week, but until then I have to make sure that Riva doesn't make any more breaks for it" he gestured to the bandaids covering Rivialle's knees and the two visitors could guess what happened. "We were hoping that you could translate for us, 'cause he only specks French" Eren tried his most friendly smile at Jean who only scowled back at him. Jean looked for a second as though he might refuse just to annoy Eren, but then Armin looked at him pleadingly and he broke almost instantly.

"Fine" he huffed, bending down, kneeling on one knee. The child looked at him curiously. Jean held out his hand. _"Bonjour, enfant. Mon nom est Jean. La jeune fille est Mikasa, l'idiot derrière vous est Eren et c'est Armin" Hey, kid. My name is Jean. The girl is Mikasa, the idiot behind you is Eren and this is Armin._ He pointed to them all in turn and the boy nodded eagerly, simply delighted to be hearing something he finally understood. He quickly took Jean's outstretched hand and Jean shook his tiny fingers with a smile._ "Pouvez-vous me dire votre nom?" Can you tell me your name? _

_"Mon nom est Rivaille, avez-vous des aliments?" My name is Rivaille, do you have any food?_ Jean laughed at his words.

"What did he say?" Armin looked at him in surprise as Jean laughed heavily.

"He asked me if I had any food" immediately Eren and Mikasa went pale and they almost spluttered.

"Oops" Mikasa muttered. Armin took in the surprised, slightly horrified looks of his best friends with a frown while Jean grinned in amusement.

"That's hilarious. You forgot to feed the kid. You do realise he's human, right?" Jean laughed again and Eren's green eyes snapped to him.

"Shut up, Jean. Like you would know what to do with a child" he snapped. Jean took

Rivaille from him and swung him around. The boy squealed in delight.

_"Désolé gamin, laisse aller pour le petit déjeuner, d'accord? Vous, moi et Armin, en ce moment. Nous passons à un café et d'un fossé que perdant et Mikasa, d'accord?" Sorry kid, lets go out for breakfast, okay? You, me and Armin, right now. We'll go to a cafe and ditch that loser and Mikasa._ The boy squealed again at his words.

_"Je veux! Je veux! Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!" I want to! I want to! Hungry! Hungry! Hungry! _

"Stop speaking in French, I can't understand" Eren said huffily, his arms still out, demanding his child back. He wasn't about let his baby boy be kidnapped by an idiot with stupid hair. Jean barely noticed his words. Instead he looked around Rivaille's head and looked to Armin, who was smiling in amusement.

"Armin, I love this kid! I can't believe he's related to that grumpy old guy" just as he was talking Rivaille poked his cheek impatiently.

"Hungry"

_"Super! Allons, je veux des crêpes pour le petit déjeuner. Et aussi des œufs!" Great! Let's go, I want pancakes for breakfast. And eggs too!_ They both grinned and Jean grabbed Armin hand, dragging him towards the door. Rivaille looked back at Eren, who was half standing, speechless and protective.

_"Qu'en est-il M. Eren et Mikasa madame? Sont-ils ne viennent pas?" What about Monsieur Eren and madame Mikasa? Aren't they coming? _He looked up at Jean, little eyes wide and worrying. He was still smiling slightly at the prospect of food though. He reached out with one hand over Jean's shoulder to Eren who reached back.

_"Oh, ne vous inquiétez pas pour eux. Ils devront probablement aller voir votre grand frère à l'hôpital de toute façon, nous allons sortir pour le petit déjeuner et de revenir ensuite" Oh, don't you worry about them. They'll probably have to go and see your older brother in hospital anyway, we'll just go out for breakfast and then come back. _

_"Frère aîné?" Older brother?_

_author's notes:_

_im sorry guys, this is a little late, but I finally finished and here it is. I am so digging Baby Levi and I really wanted to get Jean and Armin in there and I like the idea of daddy Jean. It just sounds sexy. Expect more. _

_Much love,_

_Clementine _


End file.
